Many manufacturing, food processing and industrial facilities dispose of liquid waste into sewer lines. The liquid waste often contains fats, oils and grease (FOG) and other organic contaminants which, over time, leads to clogs in pipes. The treatment of this problem is to clean pipes with caustic drain cleaners, mechanically rout the pipes or to replace the pipes completely. Even when grease-traps are included in a drainage system, the grease-traps can form a permanent, solid grease layer over the top of the water in the grease-trap which requires "pump-out" of the grease-trap.
In other situations, liquid waste is disposed into septic tanks and drain-fields. High concentrations of FOG in the waste water can lead to grease build-up on rocks in the drain-field which eventually form a seal over the rocks preventing water flowing into the drain-field. The treatment of this problem requires digging out the drain-field and replacing it with new materials.
A number of biological processes and compositions have been developed which are directed at specific contaminants, for example: Xanthomonas maltophilia and Bacillus thuringiensis have been used to degrade polar organic solvents (U.S. Pat. No. 5,369,031); a combination of amylase, lipase and/or protease have been used to digest colloidal material such as starch, grease, fat and protein (U.S. Pat. No. 5,882,059); and a yeast fermentation composition described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,635,797 has been described as effective in deodorizing sewage and ponds and in the degradation of organic waste. However, some compositions, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,635,797 have been found to be unstable and yielded variable results from one batch to another. Other compositions described above are directed at only a specific contaminant and do not address the problems presented by waste containing high FOG.
It is desirable to provide a non-toxic and non-polluting composition for emulsification and digestion of fats, oils and grease and other organic contaminants that clog pipes. It is also desirable that the use of such a composition avoids the need for pump-outs of grease-traps and septic tanks and the replacement of drain-fields. It is also desirable that such a composition remove odors emitted from such grease-traps, drains, septic tanks, discharge water from industrial meat and poultry processing and packing plants, lift stations and municipal systems.